


The Contractor

by endlessnightlock (Endlessnightlock)



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Creepy, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Implied Child Abuse, Katniss isn’t in a great place mentally here folks, Mystery, Non-Graphic gun violence, Swearing, attorney Haymitch, but I think I covered all the basics, dark characters, halloween fic, hmm can't give too much away here without ruining the surprise, implied child neglect, reference to previous self harm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-11-26 08:56:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20927555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Endlessnightlock/pseuds/endlessnightlock
Summary: Based on a prompt by my lovely friend AlliswellKatniss and her sister inherited their grandmother's house after her death. The house needs a lot of work, so they hire a contractor who turns out to be a friend from Katniss's elementary school days, Peeta Mellark. The two of them share an almost instant attraction, but they both have old scars from their difficult childhoods. Peeta doesn't trust easily, and after a poorly-handled confrontation, he disappears. To make matters worse, her corporate-type neighbor Gale won't stop asking her to go out with him.Things take a dark turn.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alliswell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alliswell/gifts).

> My plan is to post a chapter every Sunday evening through the month of October.
> 
> Thank you jrosely for taking a look at this chapter for me!

“Here, this is for you.” The little girl with the twin braids looked up from her sack lunch. He stood at the corner of her table, and she recognized the boy from her class, the one with big blue eyes and a wild mop of blond hair. In his hand was a cupcake smeared with white frosting.

“Why?” She asked, looking back down at her peanut butter sandwich. Today was her first day at the new school, and the morning had already left her with an ache in her stomach. 

She didn’t want to be there. She wanted to be with Momma, but Momma went away for a “rest” and left the girl and her baby sister alone with her grandmother, who doesn’t seem to like them much at all.

The boy smiled at her, revealing a row of slightly crooked teeth. “Because you’re pretty and you sing pretty, and because you look like you need it more than me. My daddy always told me to share when I could.”

The girl’s eyes filled with tears. “My daddy’s dead,” she whispered. 

“Oh. I’m sorry,” the boy told her. He continued standing there much longer than she thought he would, fidgeting with his lunch bag. “Is it okay if I sit down since you’re by yourself?”

The girl scooted to make room for him. He sat down, close enough that their legs were touching. “I’m Peeta, by the way,” he said, placing the cupcake next to her sandwich.

She liked having the boy so close. He was warm. She hadn’t realized how cold she was until that moment. “I’m Katniss,” she whispered.

Peeta took a bite out of his sandwich, then spoke with his mouth full. “I like your name. It’s pretty like you are.” 

She smiled at that. No one ever liked her name. Especially not Grandmother. Grandmother hated it, said it was “savage.”

“Do you want to be my friend?”

“Okay,” she managed.

“Cross your heart and hope to die? Stick a needle in your eye?”

For the first time in weeks, the girl giggled.

He looked down at his lunch and grinned.

* * *

  
  


“How are you doing?” Prim asks.

Katniss can hear her sister rummaging around on the other end of the line. “Did you lose something?”

Prim sighs. “I can’t find a note I wrote to myself yesterday, and don’t you dare change the subject. You didn’t answer my question.”

“I’m fine,” she lies. “Things are fine.” Katniss hates being in this house again, hates the memories tying her to it like the roots of a tree. Some nights she swears the walls talk to her, the sound of her grandmother’s voice whispering things like “mutt” and “trash.”

Most of all she hates being here alone. It wasn’t so bad until Prim left. When Prim was here Katniss would eat, still sleep at night, still hold down a job. But she isn’t going to tell her sister any of those things, because at twenty-two Prim is pursuing her dream of becoming an obstetrician. She’s just begun her first year in a prestigious medical program at a school on the East Coast. 

So there’s absolutely no way Katniss is going to let her know that living in this house makes her feel like she’s dying inside. Because that top-ranked medical school? It’s expensive. Far too much money for a young woman with zero financial support to attend without digging herself so deeply in debt that it’ll take the rest of her working life to get out of it.

And this place she hates most in the world, her grandmother’s home, is a slightly run-down, Edwardian style house that has still managed to retain its, as a local realtor had called it, “great bone structure.” It’s parked in a currently up-and-coming neighborhood in the Capitol, smack dab in between two homes that have recently sold in the upper-six and low-seven figures.

What it boils down to is this: no matter how much their grandmother may have disliked the two of them, the goldmine that this house represents is theirs for the taking **if** Katniss can keep her act together- at least long enough to get the necessary repairs completed and put the house on the market. 

“Seriously if you’re-” Prim begins to say, but her sister cuts her off.

“Do you want me to call you back later?” Katniss asks, “I need to go, the contractor’s here.” 

It’s true. There’s an insistent knock coming from the front door.

“No, I need to meet up with my lab group in half an hour,” Prim says, concern evident in her voice. 

The sound makes Katniss wish she were a better liar. 

“So I’ll talk to you tomorrow?” 

“Of course.” 

This is their new routine, a quick phone call in the evenings to touch base. Some nights it’s Katniss’s lifeline, the knowledge that she’s not alone. Some nights, when putting on a happy face feels like entirely too much work, she wishes she’d never agreed to it. 

Katniss doesn’t hit the “end call” button after telling her sister goodbye, she simply walks towards the bedroom door and waits for the signal to drop. She gets terrible reception in this place.

When she reaches the front door, Katniss opens it and gestures for the man to enter. She tries to look at him, but he’s facing away from her with the right side of his face concealed by the brim of his ball cap. “Sorry about that, I was just on the phone with my sister. Come in, Mr. Mellark.”

“Thank you, and please- call me Peeta.” He replies easily. Her world freezes as he steps inside the house. “Everyone does.”

Peeta. 

Wait. What?

_ Peeta_?

As many times as she’d tried to recall it over the years, Katniss had never been able to remember the last name of her childhood friend. There’d certainly never been anyone to ask. Her grandmother had never met him- Katniss had made sure of that. Their friendship had existed mostly in the walls of their elementary school. 

Sometimes, when she tried to recall the events of that year, it seemed almost as if Peeta had been a figment of her imagination; an imaginary friend created at a time when she needed him, with big blue eyes and crazy blonde hair. That crooked smile.

_ Is this really him? _ Katniss peeks out of the corner of her eye for confirmation, and her heart feels as though it stops inside her chest. _ Oh my god, it is. _

When Katniss had discussed what should be done about the house with Mr. Abernathy, the attorney in charge of the estate, she’d had to confess when he’d asked that no, she didn’t know anyone who could handle the much-needed repairs on the house. 

Haymitch told her that he’d be glad to hire someone reputable to do the work for her. 

_ “ _Best man for fixing up your grandma’s place, Ms. Everdeen. Peet does great work at reasonable prices,” he’d paused and scrubbed a hand across his stubbly chin. “He’s the best. But, ah, the only thing you need to know about him is that he's a bit shy around new people.” 

“When he was fifteen his parent’s home burned to the ground. Peet was the only one who made it out alive, and just barely at that. He’s covered in burn scars now and doesn’t like to show his face in the day time. Keeps odd working hours. Isolates himself. A real shame, it was a lot for a kid that age to go through. He was a good-looking boy too.”

_ He’s still handsome, _she thinks, looking her fill of Peeta Mellark after twenty years spent wondering what happened to him and one life-altering accident later. 

_ Yes, he’s changed_, she realizes. He is badly scarred, with flame-shaped marks twisting up and around his neck, straining across the right side of his face. His smile doesn’t stretch as far as it used to. She is especially fascinated by the way his neck contorts when he swallows, the muscles tensing with the motion. 

But his changed appearance isn’t why she’s gaping; she’s speechless because the moment he walked in the door her body felt a pull towards him. An electrical charge came to life as if an unseen hand had flipped a switch and sent the current buzzing through her veins. She has an overwhelming urge to touch him, to possess him, to make him _mine_ _mine_ _mine_. It’s an ancient call to worship in the basest way, to throw herself on the altar of his body. 

But beneath the intensity she’s feeling, the quietest, sanest edge of the voice whispers to her that _you_ _are_ _the_ _same_ _now_. 

Katniss can tell. She knows that his body and spirit are broken in the same way that hers has always been. 

He finally looks at her, his body visibly tense after what has become an uncomfortable stretch of silence. His voice sounds dumbstruck when he whispers her name. “Katniss?”

She blinks at him, mute in her astonishment.

“I can’t believe it’s you.” Peeta takes a step toward her, _ yes please _she thinks_, _but just as quickly he shrinks back. 

She knows that he is afraid, unsure of himself. He doesn’t feel whole, but doesn’t he see that she isn’t either? She’s never been.

“Well,” he says, “this is a surprise.” Peeta rubs his hands together, pretends that he doesn’t feel the tension so thick they could both choke on it. “Let’s get started. Show me where this place needs work.”

* * *

“I’m sorry Gale. I’m busy,” Katniss tells her neighbor.

It’s a lie. It’s the second time he’s asked her out in a month, the second time she’s declined. 

He doesn’t strike her as the type of man who is used to hearing the word _no_. His cool, too-handsome face is scowling at her right now. “I was hoping you could go with me on Saturday. You make it difficult to keep asking, Katniss. I’m starting to think you don’t like me.”

_So stop coming over then, _her brain screams. “I’m sorry,” she tells him instead, stepping inside the house and shutting the door behind her. 

“Everything alright?” Peeta asks from the living room. He’s up on a ladder, doing she’s not sure what with the ancient electrical system. 

He told her the first evening that it was a disaster waiting to happen. 

“I heard voices.”

Katniss doesn’t answer right away, leaning against the doorframe to watch him work. She can’t seem to stop staring at his face, the way the left side is smooth and fair while the right is licked by those scars that flame across his cheeks and jaw and snake upward, towards the corners of his eyes, nose, and lips. His face is beautiful in all its contradictions, but his body? 

His body is a work of art. The sleeves of his shirt are tight over powerful biceps, the left arm fair, the right marred. His tool belt hangs off his hips and ass, and thoughts of what his naked frame would look like under those slim-fitting jeans have left her lying awake many nights. 

What fascinates her the most, what makes her blood race through her veins, is the way the hem of his t-shirt lifts high enough to give her a tantalizing look at that strip of taut, forbidden skin whenever he lifts his arms to work on something overhead. The flesh there is leathery-looking but soft, the colors pale pink and white intermingled, damaged and undamaged skin married together. 

She wants to put her lips and tongue and teeth on him. Wants to know if he’s ticklish. Wants to hear him laugh first, and then whimper when she slides his cock into her mouth. 

“It’s just my neighbor. He keeps asking me out but I’m not interested.” Katniss says, her voice shaky. She’s starting to feel crazy from the want, from the way he steadfastly avoids getting anywhere close to her. 

He behaves like a frightened animal when she’s near. 

Peeta squints at the fixture in his hands before digging a screwdriver out of his tool belt. The only time he’s willing to talk to her is when he’s so far out of reach. “Hawthorne?”

“Yeah,” she answers, “how’d you guess?”

The smile twists across his mouth. 

Her breathing picks up.

“He watches you,” Peeta replies easily.

_The way_ _I_ _watch_ _you_? She lets out a strained laugh. “How do you know that?” 

“I just do.” He climbs down from his ladder and walks past her. He’s silent again, but the rosiness of his fair skin betrays him. “He’s not subtle about it,” Peeta says, looking in her eyes and then away again. 

She knows that he knows, he has to know. 

She can’t take her eyes off of him. Katniss takes a step towards him, drawn like an unknowing child to a flame. But once again, she'd startled him, can see it in the leeriness behind his eyes. He backs away from her. “I need to leave early. There’s somewhere I have to go.” 

Katniss knows he’s lying, but she doesn’t contradict him. Minutes later, the door slams behind him. 

That night in her bed, she brings herself to climax three times with her fingers. 

She still feels empty.

* * *

She tries again the next evening. 

She’s more blatant this time. 

Katniss finds him working in one of the upstairs bedrooms. She’s just out of the shower, and her hair lays across her collarbone and down her back in wet strands, her skin damp, her body covered in a long t-shirt. She didn’t put on any underwear.

He’s facing the wall, humming softly to himself, and hasn’t given any indication that he’s noticed her presence in the room. 

Katniss approaches him on silent feet, a hunter stalking its prey. When she gets close, closer to him, close enough to see the hairs standing up on the back of his neck, she breathes out his name. “Peeta.”

He stiffens but goes silent. The only sound in the room is the blood thundering in her ears and the shallow exhale of his breath. She runs the tip of her finger down that narrow valley in the back of his neck that houses his spinal cord. Her hand goes to his waist at the same time she exhales against the back of his neck. She swears he stops breathing then, that time stands still. Her body shakes a little with anticipation, as she slides her hand under the worn cotton of his t-shirt, making contact with his side. He’s warm and soft, and her toes curl when she touches the damaged parts of him. She feels his muscles dance beneath her fingertips. 

Peeta exhales roughly when she flattens her palm there, and his forehead lands against the wall with a _ thud_. His breathing is ragged in the small room but still, he doesn’t speak, doesn’t try to escape from her snare.

Katniss slides her small, warm hand to that place she dreams about. Her fingers caress his belly, running through the fine hairs below his navel. She moves lower.

“Katniss,” he says, his voice weak. Broken.

She gives him a moment. As badly as she wants him, as desperate as she feels, she won’t force it. “Let me touch you?” She asks finally, her words inadequate and shallow.

“Why?” Peeta’s voice is shaking now.

She can’t tell him why. She couldn’t force the words if she tried. He can’t know how damaged she is, how much she needs him. It’s too raw, makes her feels too depraved. Instead, she asks, “Why not?”

It’s the wrong thing to say. She immediately senses the change in the air, the overwhelming coldness that permeates the room. He takes her hand, forcing it away as he steps out of her space. He won’t look at her. “I know I’m hideous but that doesn’t-“

Katniss shakes her head, furious at her own inability to tell him. All she can say is, “You’re not.”

Peeta laughs an unhinged sound. 

_ Same. Same. Same. _Her brain screams.

“You want to know something Katniss? You know what kind of women want me?” He runs a hand through his hair, tugging on the ends, “I never thought you’d...you’d fetishize me like the others. You know, the ones who want to fuck a freak. I should probably be grateful for the offer. It’s the only kind I get. But I’m tired of it.“

She looks at him then, watches him shake with fury, cursing herself for her frozen lips.

“I’m done,” he spits the words out. He turns on his heel and undoes his toolbelt, tossing it on the ground. “I can’t be here with you like this, I can’t work like this.” 

She tries not to notice his arousal. 

_ At least I can do one thing right, _Katniss thinks to herself. It’s such an inappropriate thought in the current situation that she wants to laugh. But then she’d just cry because she’s managed to fuck everything up.

“Not when…” his voice cuts off. He sounds like _he’s _crying. And the stupid, idiotic girl that she is, she can’t even look at him. She can’t look at what she’s done. “Not when...before this,” he gestured to the damaged half of his face, “I could have been good enough for you! I could have taken care of you! Do you want to know something Katniss? I’m in love with you! I have been since I was that stupid little boy who gave you a mother fucking cupcake in kindergarten!”

And then he’s running down the stairs. Once again, the door slams. 

He’s gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you jrosely for betaing this chapter for me.
> 
> I hope you enjoy...

Katniss doesn’t know how long it’s been since she laid down in this spot, only that the sun has set and risen at least once since she took up residence on the floor. She drags herself up, her body frigid and aching from spending hours on the bare wood in nothing but her t-shirt. 

The window has been open all night. The air has turned chilly. _ I wonder if he sleeps with his window open? He always left the windows open while he worked. _

“I need to check my phone,” Katniss tells herself, remembering. “Prim, I need to check in with Prim.”

* * *

  
  


A day passes, and then another day. 

And then a week.

He doesn’t come back.

Katniss stays in her room. Sometimes under a blanket, sometimes sitting in her closet with her fingers trailing up and down the wall, running her fingertips over the little knob that juts out from it. 

She manages to answer her phone when Prim calls, manages to turn her personality back on long enough to keep her sister from hopping a plane and flying here to check on her.

But in between? She’s not exactly sure what she does. She sleeps, she hears the voices screaming at her from the walls. Possibly from inside her head.

_ Mutt. Trash. _

Katniss wakes up one morning and decides she doesn’t want to lay in her own filth anymore, so she rips the sheets off the bed and throws them in the garbage. Next, she goes to the bathroom, standing under the scalding shower until the water heater runs dry and she’s doused with freezing water.

She dresses in clean clothes and eats. She brushes her teeth for the first time in a week.

She goes back to living.

Just.

* * *

  
  


It’s been another week.

And then another.

And then a month has passed with no word from Peeta. 

It’s also been a month with no progress on the house. Another month stuck inside this private hell. 

Katniss knows she needs to call Haymitch, needs to get someone else in here to do the work.

But she just can’t.

She’s so tired, constantly tired. She’s barely taking care of herself. Barely remembering to call her sister. 

She’ll get to it when she’s not so tired.

* * *

  
  


There’s a knock on her front door.

Katniss opens it and peeks outside, loathe to do so. Every time she does it feels like there are eyes on her. And that can’t be real, right? 

This particular figment her fragile mind has created frightens her. It’s easier to avoid thinking about what that could mean, so she stays in. At least inside this house, her demons have a name.

It’s Gale at her door. “Hey Katniss, how you been?” he asks, smiling broadly.

She doesn’t answer, assuming that he doesn’t care. 

“I was wondering if you’re busy Friday. Can I take you out finally? Or you gonna tell me no again?”

“Okay,” she answers dully. 

“Really?” Gale's face curls up into a triumphant smile. He’s finally won.

_ What a fucked-up prize, _Katniss thinks. “What time?” she asks instead.

* * *

  
  


“So that’s how I landed the Beetee/Wiress merger. I swear, I worked on those sons of bitches forever…” Gale drones on, his words blurring within the fuzz of her mind.

_ Why won’t he stop talking? _Katniss feels like beating her head against the table. 

The night has been a real shit show from the word go. When Gale picked her up that evening, he boasted that he was taking her to _ District Seven, _a loud, trendy bar that people seemed to frequent for the sole purpose of being seen in the right place. 

Katniss doesn’t want to be seen. She wants to stay small and hidden, like a little field mouse. 

An hour after they arrive, she considers ducking out and getting an Uber home. If Gale wasn’t her next-door neighbor she probably would. To be honest, Katniss doesn’t think he’s noticed how she’s feeling one way or the other. He’s been too busy talking about himself.

“I’m not feeling well, would you mind if we go?” she finally asks, a distinct throbbing taking up space behind her eyes. “I have a migraine- I need to go.”

* * *

  
  


“Thanks for going out tonight,” Gale says.

Katniss nods. It’s all that she can muster.

“Are you going to be okay getting home?” He asks, smirking at his joke. Her front step is about thirty yards away from this spot where they sit in his drive. “I can walk you there, make sure you’re safe.”

“No, I’ll be fine,” she says, opening the passenger side door. Her skin is crawling, screaming with the desire to get away from him. “Thank you for the drinks.”

“Maybe we can do it again sometime?” His voice goes up expectantly on the end.

“Maybe.” _ Sure, when hell freezes over. _

Gale leans across the center console and presses his lips to the corner of her mouth. 

She doesn’t react. 

She feels nothing but revulsion.

* * *

  
  
  


Katniss is standing at her front door, digging out her house key when she hears a voice behind her. “Have a nice time with Hawthorne?”

His name catches in her throat. _ Peeta_.

Katniss turns toward the sound of his voice. 

He’s standing in her front yard next to the porch steps, his hands on the rail. It’s too dark to see his face- there’s just enough light to make out his form. 

She badly wishes she could see his expression. 

Katniss presses her back against the door, her heart frozen and ready to shatter into a million pieces. She watches as Peeta places his hands on the banister and vaults himself up and over the banister easily. 

He stalks her way. His slow, forward motion makes her shrink in on herself. 

She feels timid, unsure of what to do. “You didn’t give me a chance to...“ Katniss tries, but she stops talking when he reaches her. 

Peeta looks down at her for a moment before moving easily into her personal space, like he belongs there. She can feel his warm breath, sense the heat of his body caging her in. His chest presses against hers, but it’s still dark, too dark to see his face. “What are you doing-“

He cuts her off with his lips.

Immediately, she sags against him in relief. She’s falling, sinking, dies and is reborn with his soft mouth against her own. It’s _everything. _Peeta’s awakening her from the half-sleep that’s been her existence. 

And then she’s crying. The dam has burst; such fragile, splintered walls she has. Patched here, bandaged there, never really whole. 

Instead of moving away, Peeta’s lips move upward, kissing away the tears. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, “I’m sorry I left, that I’ve been gone so long. I just couldn’t believe that you wanted me like this…”

And now she’s glad for the cover of night because it makes it easier for her to let go, to unleash the misery that’s been building and growing inside of her. “I’ve been...I’ve been alone,” Katniss confesses, sobs. 

They both know she doesn’t just mean the last month. 

“And I don’t want to be alone again. Please don’t leave me.” She’s a mess, a complete fucking disaster, and if she weren’t so relieved to be held by him she’d panic. She never wanted him to see this, to see just how damaged she is. But it’s too late now.

“I won’t.” His lips search for hers again in the dark. “Katniss, I won’t.” Peeta’s hands move to either side of her face. He cups her cheeks and tilts her head. He parts her lips with his own, and at the first touch of his tongue to hers, sliding and caressing, she sighs. The tension releases from her body and she’s floating, liquefying against his body. 

“Can I take you inside?” He asks against her mouth. “I want you so badly, I think I’ll die without you.”

“Yes, yes. Please.” She whispers. “I know I will. I will.”

He backs away, letting his hand drop from her face so that he can knit their fingers together. “Let’s go then.”

* * *

  
  


Katniss had so many filthy, dirty thoughts about the things she’d do to Peeta if she ever had the chance. She spent hours alone at night thinking about ways to make him beg and plead for release. But now that she’s with him, that strong, overpowering lust isn’t catching back up with her. Instead, she wants to submit herself to him, let him love her. Let him heal her.

They walk through the dark house together, hand in hand until they reach her bedroom, where he pulls her inside and shuts the door behind them. Mere seconds pass before Peeta’s lips are moving against hers. He backs her towards the bed and his hands caress her shoulders, gently urging her to lie down. 

Katniss stretches out as he crawls onto the mattress beside her, her eyes never leaving his face. 

If it weren’t for the very real, very recent memories of her time at the bar with Gale, she’d swear she was dreaming right now. 

Nothing about this moment feels real.

Peeta’s hands reach for the buttons on her shirt. He begins undoing them one by one, the pace agonizingly slow. 

Once they are undone, he spreads her shirt open before moving to the front clasp of her bra. With deft, calloused fingers that brush across her skin and make her squirm, he releases the clasp and pushes that material aside as well until her chest is bare before him.

Katniss can feel the cool night air on her bare breasts, feels her nipples tense and tighten in anticipation of his touch. She inhales sharply when Peeta cups her right breast. He squeezes her gently, rubbing his thumb over her bud, each pass making her tremor. Every nerve feels like it’s been shocked awake after a period of dormancy. His touch is agonizing in the best possible way. Her body pulses for him.

She glances up at his face. He’s biting his lip, his eyes staring down at her in the darkness and shadow. The way that he’s sitting up allows the streetlamp to shine on his eyes. His gaze is intense. 

She closes her eyes, exhaling deeply, knowing that it’s coming. Soon, he’ll understand. 

It’s seconds later when the moon comes out from behind the clouds and illuminates her fully in the darkness of the room. And finally, she knows that he can see. Katniss wonders what he thinks.

Peeta grazes his fingertips over the scars that match his own, on the damaged flesh of her belly. He doesn’t say anything, just bends over and trails his lips to her breasts, pausing to place soft kisses to her nipples. She moans when he sucks lightly, too soft, teasing her, but soon he’s moving down her rib cage until finally, he makes contact with the scars. 

“We match,” she whispers. Katniss feels the brush of his hair against her stomach when he pauses there, and it’s just a moment later that she feels droplets roll across her navel. He’s crying. 

“I didn’t know,” he says to her scars, the places where her pink and dusky flesh is intertwined, where the pattern matches his own. “Who did this?” 

“Grandmother. She used to use the iron when she was angry...” 

He looks into her eyes. “You should have told me.” His glisten with the remaining tears and regret. _ I’m sorry, I’m sorry, _they say.

“I didn’t know how,” she whispers. “I never know what to say.” Katniss reaches out to caress his face, to touch the mottled, tough skin that runs up to the corners of his eyes and mouth. “I want to see you now. Please.” 

Peeta gets up on his knees, reaching behind his back to grasp his t-shirt and pull it over his head. 

She gasps at the sight of him. “You’re so beautiful,” she says as her hand stretches out, her fingers trailing down his stomach and over to the striations that cover his right side. 

“Where else?” he asks.

“My back. My bottom. Anywhere they couldn’t be seen.” She whispers.

Peeta reaches for the clasp of her pants. He unbuttons and slides the denim off, her cotton panties tangled up and coming off as well. He looks at her then, appraises the new territory of her body. 

“Your thighs?” he stared at the thin, horizontal scars that are raised white on her brown skin. 

“During the bad times, after we’d moved back home, Mother would stop taking her meds. Sometimes I… I used to when it was really bad when I felt everything slipping.” She admits. “I don’t anymore. It scared my sister too much.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” He says, his breath coming out raggedly. There’s hurt in his eyes, in the downward curve of his mouth. 

She won’t let him blame himself for things he had nothing to do with. Katniss bites her lip and stares up at him. “Don’t be. They’re not your fault. Just...just be here with me now.” 

He nods, almost imperceptibly, and stands to pull his pants and underwear off in one motion. 

They’re finally bare to each other. No more secrets. Each mark, every flaw on full display in the peaceful glow of the moonlight. In being so exposed to Peeta, she finally feels safe. Hidden away from the world. 

Katniss looks at all of him, finally, gets her fill of searching him with her eyes. His strong thighs, the straining hardness that’s proof of his desire for her. The flat planes and rigid lines of his body. 

He’s exquisite.

Peeta crawls back onto the bed, climbing over her on his hands and knees. When he reaches her mouth again he kisses her, claiming her, but gently. It’s ownership yes, but the sweetest sort. “Roll over,” he says, his breath tickling her ear.

Katniss does as he asks. She rests her cheek on the cool sheets and closes her eyes, waiting for him. She lets out a contented sigh.

Peeta lifts her rope of hair off the back of her neck and places open-mouthed kisses down its column. He moves in a slow path until his lips are brushing the space between her shoulder blades. “I’m going to kiss every place you’ve been hurt,” he says as his lips move further down her body. “And then I’m going to make love to you. Katniss, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he whispers with each brush of his lips. His lips move along her shoulders and ribs and down her spine. In her vulnerable state, she’s never felt so beautiful, so _seen_. Peeta kisses the dimples in her lower back and then proceeds to take an inordinate amount of time on the swells of her ass, his lips moving lower, lower. 

She’s breathless with anticipation, a shiver wracking her body as Peeta slides his hands underneath her, his thumbs caressing her pelvic bones as he lifts her hips in the air. Her breath escapes her in a rush as he presses soft kisses to her labia, his tongue darting out to tease her slit. His strong hands spread her wider apart for his mouth that’s so wet and soft against where _she’s _so wet and soft and swollen with desire for him. 

She turns her face into the mattress as he uses his lips and tongue to kiss and lick her and, _ oh god, _she’s not even sure what he's doing now because it’s making her crazy. She doesn’t feel worth this attention, all this pleasure that’s just for her battle-scarred body.

“Just a minute,” he tells her, pushing her hips up higher and moving away, “sit up and hold on to the headboard.” 

She closes her eyes, squirming in anticipation, ready and anticipating the feel of his torso against her back and his arm around her waist, pulling her tightly against him as his hips and cock encase her from behind. It’s exactly the sort of thing she spent hours fantasizing about during those lonely nights. Instead, she’s shocked to find soft waves brushing against her inner thighs, and Peeta’s hands cupping her ass. He tugs her down gently so she’s forced to lower her hips to his mouth.

Katniss feels like a wild thing, looming above him with those blue eyes staring up at her from between her legs. She’s nervous and exposed this way, but the moment his tongue darts out to taste her, his eyes screwing shut in satisfaction while she shudders above his mouth, her inhibitions fly out the window.

She tries to hold herself upright as he explores her, but the pressure is building and the wetness is seeping out of her with each pass of his tongue against her clit. She jolts forward, unable to stop herself, leaning against the headboard to keep herself aloft on her knees as he pushes her toward the edge of insanity. 

Her head drops forward. Her eyes slant shut, and her whole world compresses and shrinks until all she knows is the feel of his lips and tongue in her intimate places. When she begins rocking her hips against his face, Peeta moves her pelvis forward into a position where he can probe her deeper with his tongue. He thrusts inside of her, and intentional or not, she feels his nose brush her clit at the same time. 

Katniss cries out as the first electric shock careens through her body, feels her muscles begin to flutter around his tongue. Peeta tugs her down further over his mouth, moaning loudly when she grinds down on him, her self control gone. 

The sensations ricochet up through her body...

And then she loses her mind. She bursts, she flies. Her body tenses, every muscle paralyzed as wetness pours out of her. Peeta’s fingers dig into her ass, spreading her wide and devouring her, gasping as if he’s the one who just came. 

She shudders and shakes as she clenches around his mouth, and when his lips go to her clit and suckle there, unbelievably she comes again. Harder this time. She can’t help but cry out as release washes over her, her fingers digging into the headboard as her back arched in ecstasy. 

Every last bit of control over her body is gone as she climbs off of him. Her legs and arms shake from the assault to her nervous system. She collapses next to him on the bed. 

Peeta sits up quickly and rolls her flat on her back, and she smiles at him and his impatience. She feels the same. Honestly, she can’t wait to have him inside of her.

He climbs onto his knees and grabs her hips, dragging her down the bed to position her where he wants her. When he looms over her, her pulse quickens at the show of brute strength and desire. The gesture is second only to his previous display of gentleness, of concerning himself with her pleasure first and foremost. She spreads her legs wide beneath him, staring up at him in invitation. Her chest is heaving, her body trembling. It’s not simply a physical reaction. 

_ Don’t hurt me, _she silently asks him.

Peeta captures his lips in a searing kiss as he pushes inside of her. _ I won’t. _

* * *

  
  


Katniss opens her eyes to light streaming in through her window. She slept better last night than she has in months. It’s as if the most delicious feeling has overtaken her, something to do with Peeta. A dream about him and a dark-haired little girl in a field of flowers.

She closes her eyes and burrows under the sheets, sighing to herself.

_ Peeta. _

Katniss bolts upright. 

Last night’s events come back to her and she laughs. He came back!

She’s pretty sure he’s already up, but just to be sure, she looks to the other side of the bed. 

He’s not there.

“Peeta!” she calls as she hops up, stopping to grab the shirt she wore last night to shove her arms inside. She buttons it up as she walks out of the room. “Where are you hiding?” Katniss calls, waiting for him to respond.

Nothing.

She looks in the bathroom. 

_ “Don’t go,” he said, flopping back down on top of the mattress as she gets up. _

_ “I have to,” she giggled, actually giggled for the first time in she can’t remember when. “I’m going to pee myself!” _

_ He smiled. “You know I’ll miss you. Hurry back, okay?” _

Not there.

She walks into the kitchen, half expecting to find him cooking breakfast.

_ “You need someone to take care of you,” he told her, kissing her forehead before she fell asleep. He pulled her close against his chest. His head rested on the pillow next to hers. “I’m going to be here to do that now _.”

He’s not there either.

Katniss proceeds to go through every room of the house looking for him, that panicky-sick feeling building in her stomach with every Peetaless spot she checks off her list, but still, he’s not there.

She backtracks to her bedroom, snatching a pair of knit pants off her dresser and tugging them up her legs quickly. She’s going outside to look for him. Maybe he’s waiting to surprise her with something?

A quick appraisal answers that question. 

No sign of his truck anywhere.

Hot tears filled her eyes. 

_ Where is he? _ and _god I’m so stupid, _ flit through her mind, but her rational half says- _ No, he must’ve had an emergency. He wouldn’t leave me, he promised. He promised. _

Katniss trots back inside to grab her cellphone. The memories of last night weigh too heavily on her mind to stay in her bedroom, so she goes back out and stands on her front sidewalk to call him.

Peeta’s phone rings and rings, until finally going to a generic voice mailbox message answers. She ends the call without saying a word, deciding to type out a quick text message instead: **Where did you go? Let me know where you are, please. I’m afraid you’ve run away again. :) **

Katniss hesitates before typing up the last bit, but she swallows her nerves and does it anyway. 

**I love you.**

“Hey, Catnip!” 

Katniss groans as she hits the home button on her phone. 

Gale. She turns to face him. “Hey,” she says, weakly. She’s not in the right frame of mind to speak to him right now. 

“Are you feeling better today? You look really good,” he says, his eyes scanning her face.

_ That’s from the orgasms another man gave me after our shitty date last night, but thank you anyway, Gale_.

“I’m alright.” She says noncommittally.

“What are you doing out here? Bad reception in the house?” he continues sympathetically. He nods at her phone. “I think this neighborhood must be in the Bermuda Triangle or something. What’s wrong, didn’t get an answer?”

“No, I didn’t.” Katniss scrambles for the right thing to say. She’s a terrible liar, so sticking with the truth is probably for the best. “I was trying to get ahold of my contractor, he’s supposed to be here right now.”

Gale looks at her in confusion. “Who?”

“My contractor, he’s been working on my house. Peeta Mellark.”

He laughs. “What are you talking about?”

“The man that’s been here working. I mean, he hasn’t been here for the last month, something came up, but before then he was here every evening.”

Gale stares at her in disbelief. 

Katniss huffs. “Peeta was at my house the time before last when you asked me out. Don’t you remember? His truck was parked in my driveway all the time for weeks.” Why is Gale behaving so odd about this?

Gale frowns. “Um, Katniss, I don’t know how to say this but...you’re the only person I’ve ever seen at your house. I’ve never seen a truck, I’ve never seen a man there.”

Katniss scowls at his cold, handsome face. “Funny Gale. What did I do then, make him up?”

He backs away, hands in the air. “I’m not screwing with you, I swear I haven’t seen another living soul in your house.” Before he walks up to his driveway he calls out, “I’ll get in touch with you about getting dinner next time. How would that be?” 

If Gale were a more perceptive man, he’d easily read the _ “fuck off” _ in her eyes. Katniss turns on her heel and marches back inside.

There has to be some explanation for this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought of the chapter, but only if you’re feeling it :).
> 
> Thanks for reading. See you again on October 20th!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve found that I’m literally incapable of holding onto something I’ve written without it driving me crazy. 
> 
> In the interest of not driving myself crazier, here’s Chapter 3 a few days early. I’m going to post Chapter 4 on Sunday the 20th so I can stop thinking about this story and move on with my life...
> 
> I have no game. :)
> 
> Anyway, thank you jrosely for your help and insight!

Once Gale is out of sight, Katniss goes back inside. The realization strikes her, as she wanders through the house with no discernible purpose, just how few signs of Peeta are left at all. 

A drop cloth in the living room. 

The light fixture that still sits on top of the ladder where he left it.

Surprisingly, the spare room where he was working last is devoid of any signs of him. She can’t find his toolbelt anywhere. 

She would’ve sworn it was still there.

Katniss heads for her room, her refuge in this house. 

The room was never intended as a bedroom. 

When she was a little girl, the room's only use was storage. 

But as that small, defenseless child, this space was her sanctuary. It was where she went to get away. 

Hidden inside the closet of the room there’s a secret compartment, just a tiny cabinet really, barely large enough for a smallish five-year-old girl to fit inside comfortably.

It’s the place she’d go on the nights when she managed to escape from Grandmother’s wrath. 

She’d huddle inside and slide the panel shut behind her. 

The closet was always a sure bet. If she made it there, she was safe.

Katniss shakes her head as if to rid herself of those intrusive thoughts for now. They aren’t welcome, not when _ Peeta _lingers in the air around her.

She pulls the covers back and stares at the wrinkled bed sheets. _ We were here last night. Surely there’s still some sign of that? _Katniss touches the cotton, still damp. Visions of the way their bodies were tangled together last night play inside her mind. Her whole body heats with memory. There’s still a faint soreness between her legs, a physical reminder that yes, she did have sex last night. She can feel his come mixed with hers still there, slippery and thick between her legs. 

Katniss closes her eyes and leans over the bed, running the palm of her hand across the smooth surface. A moment later, she sheds her clothes and lies down, pulling the blankets up and over her body to shut out the world. She breathes deeply, reveling in the mingled scents of the two of them that remain. Katniss can imagine that the sheets caressing her bare skin are Peeta’s gentle hands. 

With her eyes closed, she can imagine that he’s still there. So here she will stay, inside this safe little cocoon, until she hears from him. 

It shouldn’t be long.

* * *

  
  
  


It’s dark outside when Katniss gives up. 

Peeta hasn’t called. 

He hasn’t come back.

“Was it real?” She says out loud, the first words from her lips since this morning.

Katniss picks up the phone from where it lies next to her head and taps out a message to her sister. 

**I have a sore throat, talk to you in a few days. Don’t worry, I’m fine.**

_ Lies, lies, lies. _

* * *

  
  
  


Katniss lays in her bed, staring out the window. The evening is cloudy, grey and dim. The weather suits her state of mind well. 

She’s spent the last few hours questioning herself, trying to determine where the lines of fantasy and reality have spliced together inside her head. 

She’s having trouble figuring out what’s real and what’s not real.

Katniss sits up and cradles her head in her hands. For the second night in a row, there’s a dull throb behind her eyes. When she runs her fingers through her tangled hair they catch. She can feel the layer of grime on her face from the dried tears and sweat that have mingled with the remains of last night’s makeup. 

  
  


She feels like shit.

  
  


Katniss is perfectly aware that she should go and take a bath but If she does then all of the evidence of last night will be gone, rinsed down the drain. 

She’s genuinely afraid of what will happen when she washes the last of Peeta off her body. 

What will be left to hold on to? The rest of him is gone. No matter how hard she presses her nose to the mattress now, she can’t smell Peeta there any longer. 

The smell is gone. 

He’s gone.

_ Am I crazy? Has this place finally gotten to me? A sane person wouldn’t think like this... _

_ No, I’m fine. _ Katniss tells herself as she gets up, determined to put on a brave face. _ This is fine, I can do this. I don’t need this. _

* * *

  
  
  


As soon as she reenters her bedroom post-shower, her body wrapped in a clean towel and sopping-wet hair hanging down her back, she grabs her phone. No word from him still. 

Katniss sinks into the mattress.

_ He’s really gone. _

She lays back down on the sheets that no longer smell like him and cries herself to sleep.

* * *

  
  


“Hey Catnip, whatcha up to this morning?” Gale stands at her door with a bouquet of flowers. 

It’s early Sunday morning. 

She’s not in the mood for this. 

Gale is wearing dark jeans, ones that if she had to guess probably cost as much as her last electric bill, shiny, shiny shoes, and a shirt that would be deemed “business casual” in his downtown office. 

He looks like a prick. 

“What do you want Gale?” Katniss asks, pushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. She’s in dirty sweatpants and a t-shirt, the first things she grabbed when she heard his knock at her door. 

It doesn’t escape her the way his eyes dart to take in the outline of her breasts in the thin shirt. She’s too tired to care.

He plasters a smile on his face. “I wondered if you wanted to go out to brunch today?”

She glares at him. “Why would I want to do that?”

“Didn’t you have a good time Friday night?”

Katniss stares down at her feet. _ I had the best night of my life and it had nothing to do with you. _

“Friday was okay,” she replies evenly.

“So, ahh, are you seeing anybody right now?” Gale asks, in a rush a breath.

“Why would you ask me on another date if you thought I was seeing somebody?” This conversation is so surreal. 

Her life has become a nightmare.

Gale’s eyes glaze over like the blinds turned down on a house at night. “I didn’t mean _seeing _seeing someone, you know? I meant like a doctor. A shrink.”

Her eyes narrow at him.

“You just told me yesterday that you’ve had some man working in your house? What am I supposed to think about that, Katniss? You’ve made this guy up or hallucinated him, whatever you want to call it.” he’s angry, forcing himself inside her space. 

Katniss steps back and scowls at him. “Leave me alone, Gale.”

He laughs cruelly. “What do I need with a nut case like you anyway? Call me when you get your head on straight.”

* * *

  
  


Katniss sits on the floor of her bedroom, her eyes closed, chin perched on her knees. Her arms are wrapped around her legs, and she rocks back and forth while a thousand thoughts play on repeat through her mind.

_ Why did Peeta leave? _

_ What did I do wrong? _

_ Why won’t he call me back? _

_ Was he ever really mine? _

The other voice_: He does belong to me. Mine. Mine. Mine. _

_ He told me he loved me. Why would he leave after telling me he loved me? _

_ Where is he? _

She won’t linger on the one who whispers things she’s most afraid of in her ear, the things that make her afraid to be alone in this house. 

_Was_ _he ever real?_

_ Am I losing my mind? _

Katniss stands and grabs her car keys off the bedside table. She has to get out of here.

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Ms. Trinket, residing office manager of _ Heavensbee, Odair, and Abernathy, Esquire_, gives her a quick once over with her eyes. 

Katniss can see that she is found lacking by the woman. _ I should have tried to make myself more presentable before I showed up here, _she realizes, wrapping her arms around her middle. Changing out of the crusty sweatpants and t-shirt she’s been wearing since Sunday since it’s now Monday morning, might have been a good start. 

It’s just that it’s the very sort of thing she finds herself forgetting to do lately.

“Well my dear, it is highly unorthodox to show up here without an appointment. Mr. Abernathy is a very busy man-” Ms. Trinket begins, her whole body from that tip of her pink wig to the toes of her kelly-green heels twitching with indignation. The woman is practically vibrating.

“But I don’t need an appointment, not really Ms. Trinket, I just need to ask Haymitch-”

“It’s _ Mr_. Abernathy. Manners, please Ms. Everdeen. We are not animals!”

Katniss feels the anger that’s been sitting at a low simmer begins to boil up again, but she lets it go. “Could I schedule an appointment with him then, please? I’d like to see him as soon as possible, it’s important. I can even, ah, pay more than his hourly rate if that will get me in to see him faster…”

Ms. Trinket lets out a sigh. “Well my dear, that is quite an unnecessary offer, and I’m sorry to say that will be quite impossible. He is out of the office for the rest of the week. However, I know that Haymitch will be checking his messages- if you would like to leave him one?”

Katniss visibly wilts. She chews her lip. She sighs, resigned. “Do you have something that I can use to leave him a note? It’s very important.”

Effie hands her a legal pad and pen. “I’ll make sure he gets it,” she promises.

* * *

  
  
  


“How are things?” Prim asks. There are no background noises, no audible sounds of her sister’s distraction tonight. Katniss has her full attention. 

She’s not surprised by the fact, It’s been three days since Peeta disappeared, and Katniss has been steadfastly avoiding her sister’s calls until now. 

Tonight she gave in because she knew it was inevitable. “Oh, right as rain.” 

“Katniss...”

She lets out a breath. “I’m managing.”

“Good.” 

_ I think I’m becoming a better liar out of all of this anyway. _

Katniss keeps that thought to herself.

“I haven’t asked you in a while, how’s the house coming?” Prim asks after a too-long stretch of dead air over the line.

Katniss’s lip trembles when she tries to answer. It’s just a simple question, but every inch of her mind fills with _Peeta_ _Peeta_ _Peeta_. She breathes in _Peeta_ and exhales _Peeta_ and she can’t even look anywhere that it isn’t _Peeta_ and she doesn’t even know if he’s _real…_

“It’s slow going. Very slow,” Katniss manages, “and I’m probably going to have to hire a new contractor. The one I’ve got isn’t working out so well.”

  
  
  


As soon as Katniss gets off the phone from her call with Prim, she hears a steady knock on the door. She groans, realizing who it is. _ What is he doing back here so soon? _

It’s Gale.

“Katniss, will you please answer the door? Please? I’m sorry, alright! I want to talk to you.”

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


“You’re going to love this woman, I promise. Trust me, she’s the best. You can just call her office and give them your name, they’re waiting to hear from you.” 

Against Katniss’s better judgment, she’d opened the door to Gale’s insistent knocking, once it became glaringly apparent he wasn’t going to go away on his own. 

She stares down at the business card in her hand, reading the name- _ Alma Coin, Doctor of Psychiatric Medicine. _“What’s this?” she asks.

Gale beams at her. “She’s real good, Katniss. She, ah, helps people all the time who have problems like yours.”

_ Like mine? _

“Her specialty is treating mental illnesses like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. They’ve got some really good progressive treatments at her facility. Innovative stuff.”

“Gale, why do you think I need this? I’m not...I don’t need that.” Katniss stumbles over the words a bit, but she finds relief in letting them out. She knows they’re true. 

Releasing them into the air just solidifies her resolve that she’s not simply imagining things.

“I don’t need her _ treatment, _whatever that means.”

He crosses his arms over his chest. “You know something Katniss? I’ve spent a long time at the back end of the medical profession, and I’ve seen a lot of things. A lot more than someone like you would’ve had the opportunity to.”

Katniss scowls. 

“Ignoring your problems isn’t going to make them go away. Do you even know how hard she is to get into? Huh?” His voice has risen steadily, quickly; up an octave, louder in volume. He’s angry. “Of course you don’t. You should be _thanking _me for doing you this favor. It’s not everyone who gets in to see Coin this quickly. She’s got a month’s long waiting list. Do you know how many strings I pulled to get you in this soon?” 

“I don’t need it, I don’t want it.” She spits out, indignation sweeping over her like her older, stronger spirit is repossessing her body. “What business is it of yours, anyway?”

Gale shifts on his feet, his eyes darting around furtively before he answers her. “Why won’t you listen to me. I’m trying to help you!”

“Gale-”

“And for that matter, why do you insist on moping around your house all weekend over someone who doesn’t even exist? I’m standing right in front of you!” He’s all but shouting in her face at this point. “A _ real_, live man. You’re mine. Mine!”

Disgust, laced with a healthy dose of fear, is coursing through her veins. What gives him the right? Katniss inches backward, away from him. “Gale, you need to-” 

He grabs her by her shoulders and shoves her against the house, quickly and hard enough that the wind is almost knocked out of her lungs. 

The panic truly sets in when he grabs her face and mashes his lips against her own. 

It’s so different from the other night with Peeta. That had been all gentle possession and wanting, while this assault from Gale is terrifying. 

She can’t breathe. She struggles, but he holds her arms tighter, trying to force his tongue in her mouth.

_ Oh no, oh no, oh no. _

In a moment of clarity, Katniss forces herself to relax against him, realizing that he’s never going to let go of her while she struggles. 

Just as she predicted, he senses the change in her demeanor, letting his guard down. At the same time Katniss opens her mouth as though she’s ready to accept him there, she brings her knee up hard and swift to his groin.

Gale lets go of her, shoving himself away as he doubles over in agony. While he’s off-balance, Katniss gives him a hard shove backward. He lands on his ass, and while he’s down she quickly ducks inside the house, slamming the door shut behind her. 

Gasping for air, she throws the bolt in place and runs for her bedroom.

She’s shaking all over, trembling from head to toe as she closes the bedroom door behind her. 

The thought of what could have happened if she hadn’t gotten away from him, what he might have been capable of, terrifies her. 

_ Is he still out there? _Katniss grabs the phone from her bedside table and crawls across the room towards her closet. 

Her heart feels like it’s ready to beat out of her chest. She needs to get away. She needs to feel safe. She knows she needs to call someone, but right now she can’t even _breathe_. Panic is racing, screaming through her veins.

Katniss is sobbing by the time she pulls the closet door shut behind her, wishing she was still small enough to fit inside her hiding place. In that dark, enclosed space no one could ever find her. But since she’s too big, too grown, she balls herself up and lays her head against the wall. She closes her eyes.

_ Peeta. Peeta. Peeta. Where are you? _

Her hand fumbles across the wooden slats of the wall until her fingers finally locate the knob she knows is there. She pulls and tugs, and while it gives her some resistance, it finally does release. 

It's been twenty years since anyone has opened it, after all.

Katniss can’t fit inside now, but she reaches her arm in any way. For what she’s not sure. The memory of a safe place while she sits here, hiding from a new monster who is outside, waiting to get her perhaps.

She’s surprised to find a few things left inside. 

A cloth doll she has a vague memory of, some yarn for tying knots...she reaches around some more until her hand closes around a piece of paper. 

_ What is this? _

After taking everything out, Katniss taps the flashlight on her phone to take a closer look. When the light shines off the surface of the neatly folded construction paper, she nearly chokes on the cry the comes from her mouth.

It’s a note with the word _ Katniss _written on top in a five-year old’s unsteady hand. 

She runs her shaking fingers over the orange crayon letters. “Peeta…” she whispers, unfolding the note slowly as if she’s afraid it will disintegrate before her eyes.

_ Dear Katniss, _

_ I hope I speled ur name right I had to ask my daddy how to spel it. I just want to tel u I’m glad ur my best freind. _

_ Peeta _

Katniss wipes the tears away from the corners of her eyes. She closes her eyes and exhales, holding the note to her chest carefully like a precious pearl. And it is, it’s more than that. 

This paper is her lifeline, it’s proof that Peeta’s real. She’s not crazy. She didn’t make him up. 

Katniss lets out a relieved breath, but when her phone rings a second later, she drops the note, the jarring sound nearly causing her to jump out of her skin. 

Her hand trembles as she picks it up off the floor. She hopes it’s not Gale. There’s no way she can talk to him right now.

_ Gale_.

She’s not sure what to do about the attack. Should she call the police? She just wishes he would go away.

She turns the phone over. 

It’s not Gale.

The name _ Haymitch Abernathy _lights up the screen, just as she hears a cracking, groaning sound of her bedroom door splintering apart from a forceful attack. “Katniss!” Gale roars, “where are you?”

_ Oh god, no. _

She underestimated him. Why did she do that? How did he get in? She has no idea how he got in...

Katniss answers the phone, her heart in her throat. “Haymitch, help me please,” she whispers, the panic lacing through her voice. 

She’s shaking. Her nerves are twisting and jumping, out of control, every muscle in her body consumed by the panic that ratchets through her. Her words are nearly silent but still, she’s terrified that Gale will hear her. 

It’s just a matter of time until he finds her. 

_ I’m going to die, _ Katniss realizes. _ He’s going to kill me. _

“Where are you? Are you safe? Katniss?” Haymitch asks her quickly, but steadily. 

She hears a noise on his end of the line like he’s standing to his feet. There’s a clatter, the sound of something falling off a table.

Oh, she wishes he would have called a few minutes earlier. 

There’s no time now, no time at all. 

This is it.

“No, I’m not, I’m-” But It’s too late because Gale has found her. He throws the closet door open and grabs her arm, his fingers digging painfully into her flesh as he jerks her to her feet. 

The phone drops from her hand, and when it hits the floor Gale stomps on it. The cracking sound of the glass makes her feel like vomiting.

“You’re coming with me now,” he says softly, a calm menace in his voice. “Did little Katniss think she could hide from me?” 

His hand goes to the side of her head, gently like a lover’s touch. 

But she knows better now. She knows what he is, what someone like him is capable of.

She has a flash memory of twenty years ago. A woman. A middle-aged woman with steel-grey hair and cold, hateful eyes. A hot iron in one hand, a belt in the other.

Gale’s eyes go dark. 

Katniss closes hers, resigned to her fate- that sinking feeling she’s always had in the back of her mind that this place was going to get her, one way or the other. That evil has always been coming, lurking in the shadows to grab her when she least expects it.

He slams the back of her head against the wall.

Stars flash behind her eyes. Everything goes black. 

_ It’s alright now. _

_ It’s over. _

* * *

  
  
  


“Katniss...Katniss wake up please.” She’s coming to, slowly, painfully. There’s a hard surface beneath her back. 

Every muscle aches. Her head is pounding. And the voice that’s speaking to her- it’s frantic, but she recognizes it instantly. 

Her eyes fly open and she turns her head towards him. 

“Peeta?” she chokes on her words, her mouth dry and prickly. Katniss registers the outlines of the face she loves so much in the semi-darkness of the room. “What are you doing here? Where are we?”

Peeta stares down at her, his face drawn and haggard, tears welling in the corners of his eyes. He doesn’t hesitate to bend over and press his lips to hers. They rest there for a moment, lightly, like he just needed to touch her again. She wouldn’t even call it a kiss.

She stares up at him dazedly when he pulls away. 

His voice is frantic when he speaks again. “Oh god, Katniss you wouldn’t wake up…” Peeta’s hands fly to her wrists, frantically tugging and pulling on the ropes that bind her. 

Katniss hadn’t even realized she was tied down.

He sighs, his relief palpable when the ties release. “There’s no time to explain now, we’ve just got to go. We’ve gotta get out of here.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think!
> 
> Just one more chapter to go...


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the grand finale!
> 
> I can't wait to see what you guys think. 
> 
> Thank you jrosely for betaing for me. You're fabulous :)

Peeta grasps her shoulders. He quickly tugs her up into a sitting position, causing Katniss’s head to swim. She’s afraid of blacking out again.

“I was so worried about you,” He says, pulling her into his arms. “You were out for so long, and you were hardly moving. I kept checking to make sure you were still even breathing.”

“Well I’m certainly awake now, I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck,” Katniss mumbles into his shoulder. “Do you know where we are?”

“Not really,” He admits. 

”I was starting to think that I’d dreamed the other night with you,” she tells him, her voice just above a whisper. This isn’t an easy thing for her to say. “I convinced myself that I’d made it all up after you disappeared on me again.” Peeta’s body tensed, and she can sense an impending apology from him hanging in the air between them. “And don’t say you’re sorry, please. This isn’t your fault.” 

He chuckles against the side of her head. “I mean, I guess I can see why you’d think it was a dream. That night was amazing, wasn’t it?”

Despite the present circumstances, she laughs a little. “The best.”

“Yeah?” He asks like he doesn’t dare to hope.

She buries her head against his chest, feeling oddly shy talking about what happened between them. Her feelings are especially strange considering she’s the one who propositioned him. But that was back when he was just a fantasy and not the reality of the man who currently holds her.

”Good to know,” Peeta adds, the affection evident in his voice.

It frightens Katniss how content she feels right now. Everything about these last few moments feels incongruous with their present circumstances. It feels dangerous. ”So are you going to tell me what happened to you or not?” She asks, eager to change the subject. 

“I remember getting up before you that morning. I heard a loud noise coming from your backyard, and I thought someone might have been trying to break into your garage or something, so I went out to see what was happening."

"You should have called the police." Katniss pulls back to look at him. “Or at least woken me up too.”

"Yes, I know that now. Thank you." Peeta says dryly.

That earns him a scowl.

"So when I went outside to see what was going on, they jumped me.” He squeezes her tighter. “Someone stuck a needle in me, and it must’ve been something that knocked me out. When I woke up, I was here.”

“So I didn’t chase you off again?”

”No, are you kidding me? Hell no.” He kisses her hair. “You’re stuck with me now.”

Katniss’s hand wanders to the back of her head, suddenly aware of something sticky at her hairline. “I’m bleeding,” she says when her fingers make contact with the sore spot.

“You were. I think it stopped a while ago. The wound seemed pretty shallow.” His voice is warm in her ear as he strokes her back. It helps to soothe her fragile nerves. “I’m so glad you’re alright.”

“Peeta,” she confesses quietly, “I was afraid that I was going insane when you disappeared.”

Peeta moves his head, and Katniss immediately feels the sensation when his lips touch her neck. It's just a light touch, but so good she knows that she won’t be the first to pull away. “He tried to make me think I was crazy…_ god, _I hate him.”

“You’re not crazy,” he says, his voice thick. “Katniss I promise you’re not, you're perfect.”

“I’m not perfect, but it’s better with you.” She lays her head on his shoulder, so glad he’s with her. “He...he tried to convince me you weren’t real. Gale, he broke into my house and hit me on the back of the head. I blacked out after.”

Peeta swears under his breath. “_Son of a bitch_.” He swallows roughly before asking, “How do you feel now?” 

Katniss licks her lips, noting how dry and cracked they feel. Her throat is parched. “I’d kill for something to drink.”

He laughs, and relief washes over her for so many reasons.

She chooses to momentarily ignore the voice that whispers, _ you’re not out of the woods yet. Don’t get ahead of yourself_. 

She’s just so damn tired of that voice.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Peeta says.

“How do _you _feel?” she asks as he helps her to her feet. She’s still unsteady, swaying a bit when she lands on the floor.

“I’m fine,” he answers quickly.

Katniss can’t help but notice how his eye twitches a little. 

“We need to go now though, okay?” Peeta says. “We can figure everything else out later.”

She nods. “Alright, but how?”

Peeta pulls her toward the door and places his hand on the knob. “The door’s unlocked.”

Katniss stares at him in disbelief.

He shrugs.

“Why would someone do that? That doesn’t make sense.” She has a thought that makes her stomach plummet. “Do you know what’s out there?”

He shakes his head. “I have no idea. I don’t even remember them moving me to this room. Whoever it is that has us, they’ve been shoving needles in my arm at all hours of the day.”

“That sounds awful.”

“I survived. Could have been worse, it’s not like they were torturing me,” Peeta says wryly. “Anyway, when I came to, we were the only ones in the room. I didn’t want to leave you alone, so the only thing I did was open the door to look down the hall a few times. I couldn’t see anything though. It's completely dark out there."

Katniss feels anxiety creeping up through her body, invading her senses. “So we don’t know what we’re getting into when we leave the room?”

Peeta shakes his head. “No, I’m sorry. I wish I had more promising news.”

“At least we’re still alive.” She stretches her hand out to him, trailing her thumb over the long scar that covers the left side of his face, a reminder that this isn’t the first experience with adversity for either of them. His eyes close at the gentle touch of her hand as if letting his guard down a little.

“And I’m glad you’re here with me, no matter what happens out there. Whatever we find, you’ll stay with me?” Katniss whispers, emotion lacing her voice.

Peeta leans forward and cups her cheeks, brushing her lips with his again. “Of course. Always.”

* * *

Although she was incapacitated for most of it, the time they’ve spent inside the four walls of this room still feels as though it was a small reprieve from whatever is waiting for them out here. Katniss doubts they’ll be back. Something in her gut tells her they will make it out of this place tonight or die trying.

Hand in hand, they leave the small office, closing the door behind them and coming to an immediate standstill. There doesn’t seem to be a sure way to go, and the darkness of the hallway makes it feel like it stretches out indefinitely. It’s disconcerting. 

“Does it have to be so fucking pitch black in here?” Peeta asks, breaking into her inner musing.

Katniss laughs sharply, the sound slightly unhinged. The darkness must be getting to her already. “I think that’s the point. No one’s making this easy on us, are they?”

They’re both quiet. 

“What do you think is waiting down there?” he questions her. 

“I have no idea.” She’s trying to be brave, but she can’t help it when her voice shakes a bit.

“Let’s go this way then.” Peeta turns to the left, pulling her behind him. “Don’t let go of my hand.”

* * *

Katniss isn’t sure how long they’ve been creeping along. She’s growing more disoriented with each passing minute.

She’s been clinging tightly to Peeta, and she can’t help but notice how his hand seems to be growing clammier the further they go. “Are you alright?” Katniss finally asks when his breathing grows so loud she can no longer ignore it. 

No answer.

“It’s okay to tell me the truth,” she prods. “We’re in this together, remember?”

“This just reminds me of the fire, of trying to find my way out of the house that night.” He admits quietly. “It was so dark. I... I couldn’t breathe and everything was burning. I was in so much pain. I know it sounds stupid,” his voice is strained, “but I can’t stand the dark now.”

“It’s not stupid. I hate the darkness too. It reminds me of hiding from Grandmother,” she confesses. 

“I still have nightmares about the fire,” Peeta adds. “I wake up all the time thinking I’m burning again.”

“And you were alone,” Katniss forces him to come to a stop. “In the dark. Your family was trapped upstairs, right?”

“Yeah.”

She squeezes his hand, rubbing her thumb between over his knuckles. “Peeta, I’m not going to leave you.”

He lets out a breath. “I know. I know you won’t.”

“Okay then. So you’re stuck with me, just so you know.” She tugs his hand again. “Let’s keep going, okay?”

“You’re right. What else can we do?”

* * *

The two of them eventually fumble their way to an intersecting corridor and turn, and at the end of the hallway, Katniss can see a far off light coming from the bottom of a doorway. 

Her stomach bottoms out at the knowledge that good or bad, it’s something. Some sort of a beacon in the darkness.

But what does it lead to? 

Her steps are deliberately light as the two of them head in that direction. Peeta, on the other hand, walks like a baby elephant on the loose. She’s starting to worry that someone will hear them coming. Then what?

Katniss isn’t left to think about it for very long. Peeta chooses that moment to come to an abrupt stop in front of her. She almost runs into him.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

“I just, I just-“ she can feel tremors begin in his hand, the grasp of his fingers weakening in hers.

He lets out a strangled groan. “My head...god it’s... _ killing _ me.”

Katniss feels a rapid downward tug on her arm, a forewarning before Peeta collapses to the floor, dragging her down with him.

“Peeta!” Katniss whispers sharply. She pulls herself up the best she can and kneels beside him, shaking him when he won’t respond. “Peeta! Peeta!” 

His hand twitches in hers once again, as if an electrical current has short-circuited his nervous system. “No, no, no!” He starts screaming, _ screaming _at the top of his damn lungs.

“Peeta, you need to be quiet!“ she warns him frantically, her voice cracking with the strain. “Peeta-”

And then, the lights come on- intense as the fucking midday sun, but with the added sensation of standing two feet away from its surface. It burns down on them from every direction- bright, hot, blinding light. 

Katniss squeezes her eyes shut against the assault. She keeps trying to open them, but she can’t see, she can’t _see. _

Meanwhile, Peeta is in the middle of a seizure on the floor beside her. She climbs over him, shielding his body with her own, trying to protect him from whatever is coming for them.

“Miss me?” A formless voice asks. The sound chills her to the bone, despite the overbearing heat. Like ice water freezing in her veins.

And Peeta is convulsing so hard she can barely hang onto him. 

“I see you found your boyfriend, Katniss.”

“What did you do to him?” She holds on to Peeta for dear life, hoping he doesn’t hurt himself.

Gale laughs. 

_ If I could, I’d kill you, _ Katniss realizes. _ I wouldn’t hesitate. _

“We’ve been doing some drug trials on him. Involuntarily of course. He’s been the perfect guinea pig for us the last few days.” She hears the sound of Gales’s footsteps approach. “He’s taken to the treatment even better than we expected.”

Underneath her, Peeta’s body goes still. Katniss presses her ear against his back to make certain he’s still breathing. She lets out a sigh when she feels his shoulders lift up and down, tangible proof that he’s inhaling and exhaling.

She’s not sure how much longer either of them will be breathing.

“We have lots of things we work on in this location. It’s our newest research facility,” Gale goes on. “Coin Industries is a very lucrative business. I’m the youngest vice president in its history, just so you know.” His voice comes closer. “We’re one of the top pharmaceutical providers in the Northern Hemisphere.”

“Antipsychotic meds are our biggest seller. We’ve done some groundbreaking research on the mind. Fascinating.” At that moment, the intensity of the floodlights goes down to something that feels slightly less like it’s searing the flesh from her body. 

“Do you want to know what that got us thinking?” He continues.

_ I’m sure you’re about to tell me, whether I want to hear it or not. _

She looks up at Gale then, the slick son of a bitch that he is.

He leans against the wall, staring her down, a perverse smile twisting his full lips.

Katniss doesn’t want to, but she eventually breaks eye contact; the memories of what happened the last time he got this close to her causing equal parts fear and fury to course through her veins. She feels like she’s about to be sick.

Gale’s voice is soft, menacing when he speaks. “I realized that all of that research going into healing the mind could be used to break it just as easily.”

“So we decided to weaponize it. And it’s turned out to be a very lucrative business, war I mean.” he continues. “World leaders are willing to pay Coin Industries top dollar for the ability to turn the dregs of their society into weapons of destruction. We can solve two problems for them, nice and neat.” 

“We create soldiers who can both destroy and be destroyed with no tangible loss to their nation. A mindless, unstoppable army that will work for them with just a few injections of TJ-1 each.”

Peeta begins to stir beneath her.

“Thanks to some ground-breaking tech we acquired with the Beetee/Wiress merger, along with some backing from Snow Corp, I finally had everything in place to begin testing things out on Mr. Mellark.”

Katniss feels Peeta struggling to get up. 

She’s paralyzed with fear of what’s coming.

“And let me tell you, your boyfriend was the perfect specimen.”

“You see, someone who has already been exposed to a horrific tragedy, like Mr. Mellark here, will exhibit symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder on their own. Since that baseline of fear is already established, it only makes the job of the psychosis-inducing drugs that much easier.” 

Gale laughs. “Subjects like him are so much more pliable, so much more _breakable. _ Their minds are already soft and weak. Like yours.”

A deep growl comes from beneath her. It rolls up from Peeta’s chest. His entire body hums with the force of it. 

Katniss twists her neck to look at his face. Peeta’s lips are moving, shaping words she can’t make out, but still, the noise comes from within.

“I have an idea!” Gale continues, and Katniss looks up to see that his eyes gleam with excitement, “How about instead of just _telling _you what our new drugs can do, I _ show _you instead. How does that sound?”

Time grinds to a halt as the two of them stare each other down. 

“You should’ve chosen me,” Gale says, his voice cold and devoid of human emotion. “This would have been so much easier.”

“I handpicked you for myself. I saw you next door, and it was like fate put you there just for me.”

_If that’s true than fate sure is an asshole_, she thinks.

”I watched you. Once I did a thorough search of your medical records, I was sure that you were the one for me. So pretty, so broken. You would have been exactly what I wanted, once I was done with you.” 

A thousand pinpricks run down her back. She’s sure he’s telling the truth.

Katniss thinks about the things Gale would have seen in her medical history, intensely private things he has no right to know about her. The overnight hospital stay after her mother discovered she’d been cutting herself and years of therapy and medications after her mother died. Not to mention her sexual and reproductive history. There’s nothing in her medical past she’s ashamed of, but that isn't the point; it doesn’t prevent Katniss from feeling grossly violated. 

“You should have been grateful,” he continues.

Katniss stares at his soulless face. _He’s a monster, _she realizes_. A fucking psychopath._

“Too late now though. That time has passed, that ship has sailed.” Gale shrugs. “So let’s go this route instead, shall we?”

She waits.

He smirks at her. “Mockingjay,” he says.

Katniss finds herself soaring through the air. Her head hits the wall and stars dance behind her eyes. Her whole body feels numb for just a moment, but much too quickly that feeling is gone and replaced with pain spreading through her limbs. 

And then there’s a heavy weight on top of her, holding her down.

Katniss opens her eyes. 

It’s Peeta. He hovers over her on his knees, his hands holding down both of her arms. 

She knows that she’s trapped, there’s no way she can get away from him. He’s too strong.

“Mockingjay,” Gale says again.

Peeta stares down at her, his expression curiously blank. “Peeta,” she whispers, feeling panic set in. “Peeta, stay with me.”

“Mockingjay,” Gale says, this time with a twinge of anger.

Peeta closes his eyes and shakes his head. He won’t look at her. His hands continue to grip her arms, strong and powerful, tight like a vise. He could crush her like this.

“Peeta, please.” He opens his eyes again. 

Distantly, Katniss hears shouting, the sounds of metal doors being forced open. Gunfire. _I wonder if someone is coming to get us? They must’ve followed Gale here. _And then_, I think it’s going to be too late._

She stares up at Peeta. His pupils are blown so wide there is little of the blue left to be seen, and in the center of his forehead a vein bulges out from the strain. Katniss studies the blood vessel, momentarily detached from reality. She watches how it pulses like the soft spot on a newborn baby’s head. And then time freezes, holding indefinitely. _ I’ll never have my own baby, _she distantly thinks as the only man she ever loved looms above her, fighting against himself to keep from killing her.

“I’ll just have to do it-“ Gale begins, but he’s cut off when Peeta leaps off of her, lunging for the other man instead. Out of her peripheral vision, she notices something shiny flying out of Gale’s hand. A pistol.

Katniss pulls herself upright, crawling backward to prop herself against the wall as the two men slam into the ground, landing with Peeta on top. 

They continue grappling, and it's difficult to determine who has the advantage. Peeta is more muscular, stronger, but Gale is long and rangy. He keeps wrapping his arms and legs around Peeta, trapping him. 

_I need to get that, _Katniss realizes as she stares at the gun laying on the carpeted hallway floor. _Gale will use_ _it_ _if he gets to it first._ She begins to crawl across the room on her hands and knees, inching slowly toward the discarded weapon. Her vision is too blurry, her body too shaky to pull herself up off the ground. 

While she makes her way across the room, the two of them tumble back and forth, first one of them seems to have the advantage and then the other one. Gale, then Peeta, then Gale again. But just as Katniss gets her hands wrapped around the grip of the gun, Peeta’s drug-induced rage and superior strength finally win out. He gets his arms underneath Gale’s body, flipping him onto his back and pinning him in a submission hold. 

From where she now sits against the wall, her knees spread and the weapon clasped in her hands, Katniss can see that Peeta’s eyes are wild. “Say it,” he growls, his face inches from Gales, “say it again you son of a bitch.”

Gale spits in his face. “Fuck you,” he snarls.

Peeta’s face turns purple with rage. “Say it again!”

“Peeta, no don’t. Peeta don’t.” Katniss cries out as she watches his large hands slide from Gale’s upper arms and close around his throat, his shoulders shaking from the tension of keeping himself from choking the life out of Gale. “You’re better than that, you’re better than him. Don’t do it, please don’t do it.”

“Go ahead and kill me, you fucking freak show.” Gale taunts, and his voice is slightly garbled because of the fingers wrapped around his neck. “Show me that we broke you. Do it.”

“Don’t do it, he’s not worth it.” Katniss‘s voice cracks as she begs him.

“He hurt you,” Peeta mutters. “I’m not going to let anyone else get away with hurting you, not ever again.”

They’re caught at an impasse, no one willing to make a move one way or the other.

_ Don’t do it, you’re too good for this. Please don’t. _Katniss thinks as she stares at the back of Peeta’s head.

“Easy, I’ve got you covered!” Katniss slumps against the wall at the sounds of footfalls and the familiar voice.

_ Haymitch. _

Better yet, it’s not just Haymitch. She looks up to see on his left is a middle-aged man, large and muscular with a haircut that screams _military. _On Haymitch’s right are two tall, athletic-looking women who are so remarkably similar that they must be twins. Best of all, the four of them are armed.

_It’s over, _she thinks.

“Boggs, would you mind helping Peet up?” Haymitch asks. “Leegs- you two ladies got Hawthorne covered?”

With a handful of curt nods, everyone moves into action. Peeta is surprisingly quiet as Boggs helps him to his feet. He looks drained from the effort. Katniss can see that his legs are trembling and his body sways as he attempts to right himself.

She can't help but wonder if Peeta has any regrets about not killing Gale while he had the chance.

The Leegs each grab one of Gale’s arms and pull him to his feet. Once he’s also on his feet, one Leeg holds her weapon trained on his chest, the green glow of the tracer light visible over his heart, while the other twin handcuffs him.

But as they each take a side to escort him out Katniss is shocked to see that his face is cool, triumphant. Gale looks so unconcerned with what’s just happened to him it frightens her. It’s obvious that he still thinks he’s won.

Katniss stays crouched on the floor, the cold metal of the pistol resting in her hands while she takes in the action. 

The weight of the gun reminds her of a man she used to know. 

A redhead. He was a cop. They dated for a few months, and he used to take her to the shooting range sometimes. He’d been impressed by her shooting ability.

_"You're telling me that you've never shot a gun before?"_

_"Nope," she'd grinned. "Beginners luck, I guess."_

_“You’re a natural shot, you know that? A real modern-day Annie Oakley. You could easily hit a man right between the eyes every time. You never miss.” _ _He’d pulled a face. “Remind me to never cross you, would you?” _

_ They’d both laughed at the joke. _

The Leegs hold Gale, ready to lead him away. Probably to a holding cell at the police station, where he’ll call his high-priced attorney who will post bail for him faster than she can blink. And then there will be a long, drawn-out trial at the end of which there will be no satisfaction. Gale will walk because he has money and influence. It’s a winning combination every time.

And she can see it in her mind as if it’s already happened.

Katniss takes a deep breath. Makes a decision. She stands to her feet, gun in hand. 

Nobody’s paying attention to her right now anyway.

She clicks the safety off and raises the pistol into position. “Gale,” she says calmly. 

He looks up at her. His eyes startle and his mouth is just beginning to open in protest, but he never gets the chance to speak.

Katniss aims. Pulls the trigger- one, two, three times.

She never misses.

No one is laughing this time.

* * *

Warmth spreads through her body as Peeta pulls her closer, and she practically hums as he wraps his arms around her. He presses his lips to her neck, his breathing rapid, his mouth open and hot against her sensitive skin.

Katniss squirms, thinking about what he can do with that wet, silky tongue of his. As if he’s read her mind, Peeta runs the tip of it down her neck. She shivers at the sensation. He switches back to kisses trailed slowly, slowly back up again. The light touch is starting to frustrate her.

“Peeta-” she starts, but then one hand leaves her waist and slips up the front of her body. Katniss stops protesting when he reaches her breast and gives it a soft squeeze.

He rubs his thumb across her cotton-covered nipple. “Oh_, _ don’t stop doing _that_,” she whimpers, the sensation going straight to her core.

He teases her with his lips, kissing her once, twice, three times with a light brush, a whisper of his skin on hers.

She keeps trying to get closer, to go deeper, but every time she does he moves away. “Peeta, kiss me dammit.”

“That’s all you had to say,” he murmurs against her mouth.

Katniss nips at his lips.

He kisses her hotly while she runs her hands over every inch of him that she can reach. Up to his arms, over his shoulders, his chest, his back, his waist. She can’t wait to get him naked so she can see him again. 

His hands drop to her hips, grasping the waistband of her skirt and tugging it down her legs. 

Peeta groans at the sight of her naked lower half. “You’re not wearing any underwear.”

“I wanted to be ready for you,” Katniss all but purrs as she reaches for the button of his pants. She unfastens them and pushes the material down his hips. 

Once the material reaches his thighs he shucks them off, incredibly aroused and highly impatient all of a sudden. He kisses her deeper.

Katniss smirks as she pulls away from him. He’s as turned on by this as she is. She lets her fingers trail down and wrap around him.

Peeta leans his forehead against her shoulder as she strokes him, swearing softly into her shoulder.

“Are you ready for me?” she teases, “it feels like it.” 

Peeta nods against her lips as he removes her hand. And then she’s shrieking with laughter as he bends over and picks her up. He carries her, bridal-style, across the room to the king-size bed. He stops just long enough to drop her on top of it with a rough laugh before climbing in after her. 

They remove the rest of their clothing, slowing down just enough to caress each other’s old hurts, their touches soft and promising of better things to come than what the past has done to the pair of them.

Peeta lays back against the pillow and Katniss climbs on top of him, straddling his waist and sliding down his hardness slowly, until their hips are flush. 

She’s aware that this will probably be hard and fast. Her body is already tingling at the feel of him deep inside, even before she starts to move. 

He arches up into her as she sets a rapid pace, his hands cupping her ass to urge her on as she begins to climax. She continues to ride him harder, faster, and when she speaks, he gets dragged under the wave of pleasure with her.

“That didn’t take long,” he gasps once he manages to open his eyes again.

She bites her lip, trying not to laugh. 

He’s barely holding back his own. “Not that I’m complaining, but wow.” 

She touches his face. 

He smiles up at her.

Katniss leans forward far enough that he slips from her body as she kisses him. Peeta kisses her back, lazily slow and deep. Relaxed.

She slides off his chest and snuggles up to his side. “I think we got the point across.”

Peeta peeks one eye open, turning his head to look at her. “I think you’re right.” 

They do laugh at that.

They lay in silence on the bed for a few minutes, Peeta gently rubbing the tips of his fingers across her back. “Are we heading home?” he asks. 

Katniss hasn’t stayed at Grandmother’s house since the “incident,” the general term Haymitch uses to refer to their abduction and later recovery by the private security firm. She’s only been back inside the house once, just long enough to gather some personal items before leaving again with Peeta.

Coincidentally, everyone present for the rescue operation corroborated her claim of self-defense. Every report mentioned how fortunate it was that Katniss was able to stop Gale before he got to her; especially since Haymitch, Boggs, Leeg One, and Leeg Two hadn’t arrived on the scene yet and Peeta had been too incapacitated to help. 

There was also the silly little fact that the security cameras inside the building seemed to have stopped working that night. 

Technology, right? What are you gonna do?

When Haymitch drove her and Peeta to his apartment after they were released from the hospital, he may have casually mentioned he knew some good IT guys. 

“Ones of a criminal persuasion,” he muttered. “And they owed me a favor anyway.”

Haymitch went on to tell them how his firm had already hired a private investigator to keep an eye on Coin Industries, Gale Hawthorne specifically, for some time. 

Heavensbee, Abernathy, and Odair have spent years building a case against the drug giant.

Startling claims were made by a horde of former employees- chemists, engineers, zoologists, and research scientists, they all insisted things were going on inside the complex of the pharmaceutical giant that was much worse than your average, run-of-the-mill unethical business practices. 

Most notably, the affidavits from former lab workers about mutated animals specifically being bred for their aggressive behaviors. 

Coin Industries was playing God.

“Mutts”, is what the lab workers called them. Scary shit from what little I saw in the reports. Apes, birds, and other..._things_. They'll all have to be destroyed.” Haymitch had relayed to them as he pulled up to the curb in front of Peeta’s apartment that night. He stared out the window, letting the car idle for a minute. “Sweetheart, you did what you had to do. That bastard had it coming, and the world is a much better place without Gale Hawthorne in it.”

Katniss thinks about the hellish events of that night as she ponders Peeta’s question. She sits up. “Not yet, let's go try out the shower. I’m sure the towels are perfection.”

“Sounds good.” he leans over and kisses her again before standing up. “Do you want me to get the water going?”

Katniss nods. “That would be perfect.”

* * *

It turns out the house is furnished top to bottom with expensive, modern pieces, many of which they decide to “try” out before leaving. 

The entire place is a shining testament to luxury, to excess. If she were to wager a guess, Katniss would say that its owner had hired an interior designer to decorate the place. The whole thing is rather pretentious, but she doesn’t care. 

The owner certainly doesn’t care anymore. 

He’s been six feet underground for weeks. 

* * *

Katniss’s phone rings the next day. The name _ Haymitch Abernathy _lights up the display.

“Hey,” she answers casually, straightening against the back of the couch and setting her glass down. “What’s up?”

Peeta looks at her questioningly.

_ “Haymitch” _she mouths to him.

He nods and gets up to take their pizza box to the kitchen.

They've been waiting to hear from him.

Haymitch clears his throat. “Just wanted to call and let you know the strangest thing happened last night. Someone broke into Hawthorne’s house and set fire to it. The whole thing burned to the ground. Crazy huh?”

“No kidding. What is that neighborhood coming to?” Katniss tries to conceal the humor in her voice. She’s not entirely sure it works. “It’s a good thing I’m out of there. I wouldn’t feel safe in Grandmother’s house with an arsonist on the loose.” 

Peeta peeks his head around the corner. He shakes his head at her before heading back into the kitchen to give her some privacy.

“Hmm, yeah. Good thing.” Haymitch sighs. “Well, I just wanted to let you know in case you hadn’t heard yet. I don’t think there was any damage done to your place. How’s that coming along for you guys?”

Katniss stretches. “We decided to hire a renovation company to come in and take care of everything. Neither of us wanted to go back inside the house.”

“I can understand that.” It’s silent for a minute. “Well, that’s all I needed so I’ll let you go now. Goodnight Sweetheart.”

“Goodnight Haymitch. Sweet dreams.”

He snorts. “Yeah, you too. And I’m sure they will be.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can’t wait to hear what you guys thought!
> 
> Thank you for taking this trip into the dark side with me....

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you thought if you’re feeling it.
> 
> Next chapter will be up on October 13th!


End file.
